Saturday

Tall tales surround The Crab Shack’s charismatic owner Jack Flanigan. The truth is this card-carrying Mensa member speaks the Navajo and Hopi languages, is a Korean War veteran, a legitimate boat captain who spent a little time “away” and has lived a life so colorful we should make a movie about it!

As one of the 350 people making their way over to the legendary Tybee Islander, I walk up on Chatham County Sheriff John Wilcher and someone I am “going to treat like any other great man,” Chief Deputy Billy Freeman, talking about their 50-plus-year friendship with Jack and his Park Lane Lounge on Abercorn Street, Somewhere Else bar and the infamous Hard Hearted Hannah’s on Bay Street.

Rushing up to me, Crab Shack’s 21-year lady of all titles, Virginia Ward, gets a bit amped when telling me the Magical Fires of Polynesia are performing fire dancing and that two fire-knife dancers are world championship 11- and 12-year-old brothers!

With so many people pouring in, I have to name drop. “Batman” Gordon Varnedoe, old school Johnson Taylor, fashionista Kathi Rich, animal crusaders Russ and Diane Abolt, barbecue royalty Judy and Frank Ouzts plus Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley are working the room!

Zooming past me shooting video is Sean Murphy, the uber talented Savannah ePASS creator, who has got to be one of the most wicked smart techies in town. Sharing my love of fast cars, I wait to talk with him about his convertible Audi when I see Georgia Sheriff’s Association’s Meritorious Service Award-winning Steve Scheer arrive.

After a quick introduction to “Tony” Alfonso, a “townie” with a love of flipping houses and war stories about Jack, I head over to snap a pic of Tybee icon Shirley Sessions and watch Renee LaSalle pose with car aficionado Richard Papy before convincing Todd Freesemann that posing with Gary Taylor and three Polynesian dancers is a good idea.

Loving all the exotic costumes, I may have fallen in love with The King, Victor Moli, when he graciously allows me to have a mini photo session with Belinda Flanigan and Evelyn Carter. With more dancers arriving, I push through the growing crowd and see yet another Savannah character: Miriam Center.

With her 92nd birthday in sight, Miriam defies any expectation of her age and continues to serve others with Daughters of Destiny, “where women can go on their inner journey and find their mission on life. I started this mission in California in 1989 and a new session is planned for this fall.”

Posing like the celebrity she is, Miriam is flanked by Jack and another man I have watched navigate politics as smoothly as he dances — Pete Liakasis is in the house! Sporting a light blue suit and his signature tinted glasses, Pete takes the microphone and welcomes the crowd.

Then I watch the infamous "El Rojo" aka Reds Helmey approach. Sometimes you can feel a shift in a room when someone enters — quicker glances, more whispers — I have never meet this man but I already know I am going to meet another fun soul. And I am absolutely proven right when he insists on a photo with entertainers Keyuana Hopkins and Alexandrea Taoy.

By now the back patio is full, half of a roasted suckling pig has been devoured and I am making one last lap around when I run into the Friends of Oatland Island president elect Doug Orr, who tells me “all the animals are accounted for and that almost every enclosure has damage.”

The money raised tonight will help repair damage from an eight-minute tornado that caused more damage than the past two hurricanes combined. It makes my animal-loving heart happy that Captain Jack has turned his own party into another avenue to help yet another local organization in their time of need. Happy days indeed for Tybee’s most beloved captain, his 36-year-old “where the elite eat in their bare feet” Crab Shack and for all the 350 friends, fans and family who are here to celebrate this colorful character's vivid life!

Invite Bunny to your gathering, gala or other social event. Contact Bunny at 912-844-1122 or email her at bunnyware@aol.com.

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